This Honey Banana Bread is made with honey instead of sugar, and it's so easy to make in less than an hour! With an incredibly moist and tender crumb, sweetness from honey, and slight spice from cinnamon, it's my new go-to banana bread recipe. It's perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack any time of year!
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Unlike in traditional banana bread recipes, honey is substituted for sugar in this banana bread (like in my Cinnamon Honey Pancakes). The result is a slightly richer, more dense bread that is irresistible and will have your home smelling of bananas and honey!
This recipe is sponsored by my favorite honey company, Local Hive™! They bottle local batches of only the best raw and unfiltered honey across the US, and they donate a portion of their proceeds to PACE (Pollinator Awareness Through Conservation and Education) to help protect the bees.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It's an easy one bowl banana bread with under 10 staple ingredients you probably already have on hand!
- This banana bread recipe with honey is the perfect use for your overripe bananas instead of throwing them away.
- The honey and cinnamon pair perfectly with banana.
- It pairs perfectly with coffee and tea first thing in the morning or for an afternoon pick-me-up.
Ingredients
- Overripe bananas have the right amount of sweetness and are easy to mash. You can tell your bananas are at the right level of ripeness when they have lots of brown spots on the skin and you can smell them as soon as you walk into your kitchen.
- Honey is the only sweetener used in this recipe. Local Hive™ Clover Raw & Unfiltered Honey is the best honey to use in this banana bread!
- Cinnamon brings a warm spice to this banana bread recipe with honey.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Substitutions & Variations
- Some days I like my banana bread without nuts, and some days I like the nuttiness. If you are in the mood for a crunch, add ½ cup chopped, toasted walnuts.
- Add mini chocolate chips to make delicious chocolate chip banana bread.
- Try swapping out any warm spice blend for the cinnamon, like pumpkin pie spice or chai spice.
- For extra sweetness and crunch, sprinkle the top of this banana and honey recipe with turbinado sugar before baking.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
How to Make Honey Banana Bread
Step 1: In a medium bowl, mash the bananas. Measure and then set them aside.
Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and honey.
Step 3: Mix vanilla, eggs, and mashed bananas into the warm honey butter.
Step 4: Fold the all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into the wet ingredients
Step 5: Pour the honey banana bread batter into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper.
Step 6: Bake at 350ºF until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 55-70 minutes.
Expert Baking Tips
- There are many ways to mash bananas - you can use a fork, a potato masher, or your stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
- Create a sling with your parchment paper to make it easy to remove the bread by leaving a 3-inch overhang on 2 sides.
- If the top of the banana bread starts becoming dark before it is done, place a piece of aluminum foil over the top to slow the browning.
Recipe FAQs
It is not a 1:1 substitution, so if you are looking for a banana bread recipe with sugar, try my Banana Bread Muffins recipe.
You can try to quickly ripen your yellow bananas in the oven by placing them on a foil-lined baking sheet and baking at 350ºF for 10-20 minutes until they've browned.
Local Hive™ is an American honey company devoted to protecting and preserving the lives of bees. They work with 250+ beekeepers across the United States to bottle locally sourced varietals of raw and unfiltered honey. Each varietal of honey has a unique color and flavor profile due to the local differences in bees and what they pollinate in specific areas. I find the Clover honey blend to be perfect in this banana bread recipe because of its delicate sweetness! Learn more about Local Hive™ at localhivehoney.com.
You can find different varietals in many grocery stores across the US, or purchase all varietals at shop.localhivehoney.com! As an affiliate, I'm happy to offer 15% off of your honey purchase with the code BOB15 (valid through December 31, 2022).
Storage
Room Temperature
This honey banana bread can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.
Freezing Instructions
Cut the cooled banana bread loaf into slices and wrap them in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer-safe bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Did you try this recipe?
Leave a ⭐️ review below and tag @brokenovenbaking & @localhivehoney on Instagram!
📖 Recipe
Honey Banana Bread
Equipment
- 8-9 inch loaf pan
- Mixing bowls
- Measuring spoons
- Whisk
- Spatula
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- ½ cup (168 g) Local Hive™ Clover Raw and Unfiltered Honey
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups (350 g) overripe bananas mashed
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour weighed in grams or spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-9 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper hanging over the sides.
- In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and honey until well combined. Stir in the vanilla extract, eggs, and mashed bananas.
- Fold the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into the wet ingredients just until the dry streaks disappear.
- Pour the honey banana bread batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out of the center clean (about 55-70 minutes).
- Let the loaf cool in the pan until it's just warm to the touch, then lift it out of the pan by grabbing the sides of the parchment paper.
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Tina says
This bread is delicious, & bakes up beautifully! It's in my oven as I type, actually. It is dense, not too sweet, & the texture is wonderful. I never measure cinnamon, and usually put 2-3 tsp in mine. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to a T and sprinkled turbinado sugar on top before baking. I'll make this again & again!
Kayla Burton says
Aw thank you, Tina!! I'm so happy you like it 🩵 and you're right, cinnamon is best measured with your heart 😉
Manjari says
Hi, how can I make it eggless ?
Kayla Burton says
Hi! I haven't tested this recipe without eggs, sorry!
Karen says
Yum. Made today for my grandson. It smells so good on the house. It’s bitter cold so the oven temp has helped take chill out of the house. It was 7°. Thanks for wonderful recipe. It looks moist the way I like it. 🥰
Monica says
That’s a really great recipe, lots of taste into it despite not having sugar. The honey trick worked like a charm and I also added some dark chocolate chips => delicious.
Thanks a lot for this recipe!
Melissa C says
Delicious banana bread! 3/4 of my family needs to eat gluten free. So, I followed this recipe and used divided sunset gluten free flour and it worked perfectly.
Emily Mcneely says
I only had two overripe bananas so I subbed in a yellow zucchini for the third. It turned out amazing, thank you for sharing this! Honey so much more preferable to sugar here.
Kayla Burton says
Awesome!! I'm glad the zucchini worked well 🙂 thanks for trying my recipe and sharing your version!
E says
I made this earlier this week and it turned out great.
Kayla Burton says
I'm so happy to hear this! Thank you!